Organization of KNE in France:The major mobilizations confirm that the policy of profit fuels anger and indignation among the youth

The Organization of KNE in France, in a statement, salutes “the mobilizations of school and university students in many cities across France, which continue unabated despite the brutal state repression, the arrests and the smear campaign unleashed by the government, the parties of the system and the media”, and demands “the immediate release of all those arrested”.

More specifically, it notes:

“Through their struggle, school and university students are demanding upgraded school infrastructure, the recruitment of teachers and increased state funding for Education. These demands are just and necessary, which is why they have won the support of workers, teachers and the French people.”

It further stresses:

“The major mobilizations of the youth in France confirm that it is the policy that places the profits of business groups at the centre and treats the people’s needs as a cost that fuels anger and indignation among young people in France, Greece and the rest of the EU. This is why school students in a number of countries are taking to the streets today and demanding what should be self-evident.

Today, in the EU of war preparations, the French government is increasing military spending and intensifying its involvement on the war fronts, deploying troops to every corner of the planet in order to strengthen the position of the French monopolies. Indeed, through its army chief, it is calling on the youth to prepare even to shed their blood in the slaughterhouse of war. At the same time, another anti-people budget is being submitted to Parliament these days, which, in the name of ‘fiscal stability’, provides for cuts in funding for Health and Education, pension cuts, an overall deterioration in the living conditions of working-class and popular families, as well as new tax breaks and other concessions for the big business groups.

Under these conditions, the strike mobilizations of workers in a number of sectors are a hopeful sign. So too is the support of the trade unions for the ongoing mobilizations of school and university students.”

The statement then calls on “school students, university students and the youth to participate en masse in the mobilizations and to continue their struggle with even greater militancy. Joint action and coordination with the workers and the trade unions must be strengthened, since they are all being hit by the anti-people policy of the government and the other parties that support the policies and directions of the EU.

The youth must not pin their hopes on would-be ‘saviours’ who, also with an eye to the forthcoming presidential elections in the country, seek to exploit the anger and discontent of the youth taking action in order to take over the management of the barbaric exploitative system and implement the same anti-people policy, regardless of which government or president is elected.

Nor does the far right offer a solution. It is fed by the anti-people policy served by all the bankrupt bourgeois forces — Macron, Mélenchon, the Republicans and the social democrats — which invoke a supposedly humane management of this barbaric capitalist system. The far right is part of the system, a useful reserve and a convenient bogeyman for it, used to spread the poison of nationalism and racism so that the dominant anti-people policy, the EU of capital and war, and the capitalist system itself remain unchallenged.”

The Organization of KNE in France also calls on “the youth to strengthen the struggle for schools and universities that meet the needs of school and university students in the 21st century. For a modern school that provides students with an all-round education. For a university offering modern and upgraded studies, where students can study unhindered and where science and research serve social needs.

We, the members of KNE in France, are fighting for a different society — a society of education and genuine freedom, a socialist society — against the system of exploitation, injustice and wars. And in this struggle, we call on young people here in France to fight together with us!”